Jennifer Garner is to open a number of Save the Children centres in West Virginia.

According to The AP, the actress will help launch six centres in her home state. She grew up in the city of Charleston.

The charity offers nutrition programs as well as literacy education and physical activities to more than 70,000 children a year in the US.

"For me, reading to my daughters, singing with them, playing with them is as elemental to my child-rearing as feeding them," said Garner, the artistic ambassador for Save the Children, in a testimony before the Senate's Subcommittee on Children and Families on Thursday.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

She added: "But if you're one of the millions of American parents struggling with the recession and poverty crisis, you're thinking about just keeping them fed and clothed."